Welcome to Shanghai

One side note from yesterday- it is critical to know in advance what a reasonable price is for items here… at the airport we managed to wade through the taxi swindlers and finally find someone willing to take us to our hotel (Jinjiang Tower in the French Concession) for a reasonable price. But it was not a straightforward affair.


This city is like a giant blended dichotomy – East meets West, old meets new, the haves and the have-nots (ok I’ll stop before I start to sound like Dickens). Anyhow, it is massive. Apparently 10 years ago there was one building above 18 stories tall. Now there are easily over 2,000 sky-scrappers (20+ story buildings) and a whopping 12,000 above 18 floors tall.

Our hotel has a great 360 degree revolving restaurant at the top which gives an amazing view of the city and its modern sci-fi looking buildings.

And by the way, it is extremely humid here. Caro is up from her normal 2 showers a day to something like 4 or 5. I of course am still on my 1 shower a day. And that is on a good day.